Seyid Shushinski (), born Mir Mohsun Seyid Ibrahim oglu Shushinski (12 April 1889, the village of Horadiz – 1 November 1965,

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

), was an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

khananda A khananda ( ; ; alternative spellings in English: khanende, khanande, khanandeh) is a name generally given to singers of mugham, an Culture of Azerbaijan, Azeri folk music genre. The word is of Persian origin and means "singer". When performin ...

folk singer.

Early career

He was born in the village of Horadiz, in the present-day Fizuli District,

. He lost his father at a young age, and was raised by his aunt Meshadi Khurzad who was a folk singer. Shushinski received primary education at a religious school in his hometown. Thanks to his musical talent, he joined his first musical ensemble at the age of 15. He made his first public performance in 1908 in

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

, which proved to be a great success and brought the 19-year-old singer big fame in the city. At his uncle's insistence, Shushinski completed another 2 years of musical education at

Mir Mohsun Navvab Mir-Mohsun Navvab () (1833–1918 in Shusha, present day Azerbaijan) occupies a prominent place in the history of Culture of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani culture as the last representative of the old traditional school of science, arts and literature. ...

's school and was recognized as a professional khananda. His performance was admired outside the Azeri community. In 1911 he was invited by the Armenian club ''Obschestvennoe sobranie'' to give a concert in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

(nowadays Tbilisi,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

), first one in a series of remarkable concerts given by Shushinski in this city in the next 8 years. The money made off these concerts were donated to various Azeri publishing houses and spent on training young singers in vocal arts. In 1913 a vinyl record was released in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

containing among others several folk pieces by Seyid Shushinski. In 1919 he moved to Baku.Seyid Shushinski
''Axtar.az''

Career in the Soviet period

After

Sovietization Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union. A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...

Shushinski was a soloist of a drama theatre in Baku, and in 1926–1933 he taught at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. In 1933 along with Jahan Talyshinskaya, he founded the Oriental Music Ensemble which toured

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Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. In 1933–1938 he worked as the artistic director of the Fizuli State Drama Theatre, still continuing to give concerts in Baku. In 1939–1960 Shushinski was a soloist with the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society. In his last years he was a mugham opera consultant at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shushinski, Seyid 1889 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani male singers People's Artists of Azerbaijan Soviet Azerbaijani people Mugham singers 20th-century Azerbaijani singers People from Fuzuli District Soviet singers